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Tencent moves money online through WeChat WeChat users can now make online payments, a move that challenges Alibabas dominant position in the lucrative e-‐commerce market 7. August From the China Daily: The battle between China's Internet titans intensified as Tencent Holdings Ltd started allowing its WeChat users to make online payments on Monday, a move that taps into the lucrative e-‐commerce market, which is dominated by its archrival Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. The WeChat platform, a mobile social networking application developed by Tencent, China's largest Internet company by market capitalization, released its version 5.0 on Monday August 5th, in the product's biggest update since it was launched in January 2011.
The new features of WeChat 5.0 include social games, scanner tools and -‐ most importantly -‐ payment integration, which is seen by many insiders as "the most aggressive function" of all.
The WeChat payment function can integrate bank accounts (credit or debit card) with a customer's WeChat account, which allows WeChat's more than 300 million users to make purchases on several e-‐commerce platforms.
With the help of scanner tools, goods can be scanned using a product's barcode, allowing the user to jump directly onto the ecommerce website selling the product and order it immediately.
Lu Zhenwang, an independent Internet expert and the chief executive officer of the Shanghai-‐based Wanqing Consultancy, said the latest version of WeChat has the potential to be a game-‐changer in China's mobile Internet world. Lu added that the payment function has great potential to become Tencent's new source of growth and a strong challenge to Alibaba, which accounts for more than 50 percent of China's e-‐commerce market. McKinsey & Co estimates China's e-‐commerce market will triple to $395 billion from 2011 to 2015. Alibaba, the dominant player in this field, is heading toward what may be the biggest initial share offering since Facebook Inc.
Tencent's move is seen as the latest counter-‐offensive against Alibaba, which said last Wednesday that it will block online sellers' access to WeChat, citing security reasons.
Shoppers have instead been offered the option to log on to Alibaba's Taobao marketplace using their accounts on Sina Weibo, the Chinese Twitter-‐like micro-‐blogging platform, starting on the same day that Tencent released its WeChat 5.0. The move is seen as an attempt to help advertise the products of some online vendors on Sina Weibo and try to redirect potential shoppers from Sina Weibo to Taobao.
Read more http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2013-‐08/07/content_16877403.htm Loushanguan 83 +86 15811153574 www.schultz-‐co.com